Julia+Hartman+Unit+Question


 * Unit Question: Reflection**

How can we help students “get it right”?

This is a fitting question with which to end the semester. It encompasses much more than just teaching techniques and lesson plans. First, and above all, we have to determine what “right” is and we have to have good, defensible reasons. “Because I said so” will no longer cut it.

It seems most people’s reactions to this question, and to the course, have been positive. [|LNKing1], in her post **Woe Is I**, writes, “…(I)t was the methods I learned in this course paired with a humorous approach like O’Connors that caused me to see grammar isn’t so scary after all.” She isn’t the only one. It seems as if a lot of the teachers and future teachers in this class have been hoping the idea of teaching grammar would just go away (myself included). After this course, after seeing the practicality and the real methods, teaching grammar seems possible. It not only seems possible, it’s been proven to be an important part of English education.

We’ve gotten into the specifics here. In his post, **Image Grammar**, [|jvircillo] writes about Harry Noden’s book, “…I really enjoyed his approach to grammar instruction…(It) will help students add depth to their writing, and help bring their words to life. I do think that image grammar might be tough to grasp as an initial grammar instruction.” Through this course we’ve been able to discuss specific techniques, like Noden’s. We can pick and choose and modify (not everyone liked Noden), but most importantly, we know that we have a lot of options out there to use for the teaching of grammar. [|Shana.Goldstein], in response to this post, writes, “I definitely agree (with Smith and Wilhelm) that grammar should be taught as it affects our writing.” In this course we’ve seen that within writing is the best context for teaching grammar. Putting it in context, relating grammar to the student is how we can help each student “get it right.”

What I have determined from this course is that students need to be interested in “getting it right.” Forcing students to memorize or practice unrelated lessons will not inspire them and what little they learn will not stick with them. In her post Permission to Fail, [|jmisthal] writes, “Failure should never be an option for students.” I agree. We need to be able to see when we are letting a student fail, and we need to work past it; especially if the student she’s been allowed to fail with previous teachers. We need the student to recognize when she is failing, and we need her to want to succeed. This goes back to [|Kscudellari]’s **Sell it so they buy it!** I’ll take a “whatever works” approach, so long as my students will take that approach with me. For many of my students, the incentive is economic. They want jobs, comfortable lives, security. I may want them to learn Standard English for the beauty of it alone, but I’ll take what I can get.

Through this course, I’ve begun to decide what “right” is. I devoured __The Skin That We Speak__ because the authors discussed questions I had never thought about, but that affect my teaching every day. Before this book, this course, I could not articulate what Standard English was. I could not defend teaching it, but at the same time, I would not allow anything else to be spoken in my classroom. After reading these essays, I realize the importance of my students’ languages. I realize that we need to talk about language itself to be an effective English class. Before this, I could throw the term “code-switching” around. Now I can use it to understand my students, and to help them understand me. I’ve taken Smith and Wilhelm’ “Problems With the Parts of Speech” chart (11) and photocopied it for my girls. We’re having real discussions about language, structure, grammar and discourse. I give my students more credit than I did before, because what is “right” is changing. My students give me more attention than they did before, because they want to “get it.”